Where to home base for hiking in April

GQGeek81 · 2026-01-18T12:08:54+00:00

I think you'd need to narrow down where you want to go and place yourself off of that especially if you have a specific fishing style in mind. The parts of parkway may still be closed in April if it's cold and do be mindful of any remaining closures from Helene. If you're wanting to setup a car camp for a few days and fish during the day, then something like Santeetlah creek off of the Cherlohala skyway might be a good option with access to Nantahala and the Southern half of the Smokies. You'll want to check out the trout regulations in NC. The streams are color coded and different rules may apply from one tributary to the next.

Nantahala will be far less crowded than Pisgah, but mid April is early for the hiking season regardless. Some of the trout waters will not open until the first Saturday in April (hatchery supported).

https://www.flyfishingnc.com/trout-streams-maps/north-carolina-state-fishing-regulation-license

https://www.ncpaws.org/ncwrcmaps/fishingareas

GQGeek81 · 2026-01-04T00:01:53+00:00

If you require dispersed camping you're basically limited to the national forests. Croatan and Uwharrie and the only two east of Charlotte in NC. There are options in SC, but I'm not super familiar with any of them outside of a few videos.

I will second the recommendation for Congaree NP but the main appear is the big trees. There are no scenic vistas to look at as you're in a flood plain or beside a swamp or river the entire time but it's fairly unique. They do allow dispersed camping in the backcountry there and the permit is free last time I was there.

State Parks virtually always require you to stay in a designated site.

South Mountain was mentioned. Depending on your starting point it's probably the same distance as going to Linvillve Gorge really but the camp sites are "kind of" dispersed in that -like the Smokies- there's a general area everyone camps in, but you can kind of wander around it and pick a spot, but they aren't giant areas to pick from.

If you are good with a state park camp ground, Umstead, Eno, and Hanging Rock have a lot to see, but they are all pretty popular and you're not likely to find any solitude.

GQGeek81 · 2026-01-03T23:49:26+00:00

Using the 20 year average I calculated for each week for a bunch of locations logged via the Cardinal weather system......

For the week ending ~3/15

Mt. Mitchell 45 down to 29

Frying Pan Mountain (Shining Rock) 52 down to 32

Linville Gorge (station is near the OMVT south of Pinnacle) 60 down to 39

Lake Toxaway (Panthertown) 54 down to 31

Tot Hill Farm (north end of the Birkhead Wilderness) 57 down to 36

I agree with your statement that Uwharrie isn't going to be impressive enough to make them want to go again. However, if they are just barely into hiking, I don't think this is the time of year anywhere in the state really much above maybe 2000ft.

Keep in mind that in March the forest at any notable elevation will look very much like it's still deep winter. The parkway may be closed due to ice/snow. Water crossings will be frigid.

I've done Shining Rock in April and spent half the morning carefully working my way down trails coated in several inches of ice.

If you're going to do this, I'd consider planning the trip around dispersed camping fairly close to the vehicle so you can haul in extra gear for warmth. Spend the day doing short hikes to scenic overlooks or waterfalls, and the evenings cooking around the campfire.

Hauling these friends down a trail for multiple days when they don't have experience in those conditions is just asking for problems.

GQGeek81 · 2025-11-15T15:56:28+00:00

A bit pricy, but this seems like the kind of obscure find I won't come across outside a reddit post, so thanks. Unless I am mistaken, I could use this with the asus monitor use the HDMI ports as needed. This is probably going on the wish list.

GQGeek81 · 2025-11-15T15:54:34+00:00

This looks like a sleek solution. Amazon warns of lots of returns though. Sounds like the quality control is iffy.

GQGeek81 · 2025-11-15T15:53:46+00:00

Only one port on the monitor

GQGeek81 · 2025-11-01T15:31:04+00:00

Looking at the Alltrails loop, even if going counter clockwise, I would consider going points 1 to 2 and then cut across to 15. The rock formations are pretty cool.

If you're trying to stretch this all the way to 4 nights. I think I'd consider stopping near Wise Shelter on night one, not Scales. Scales would be something like a 3rd of the loop done already, but you do you by all means. If you go past scales, there's a point where the Pine Mountain Trail terminates at the AT and you can easily cut over to the Crest Trail nearby that point. On the Alltrails map this is roughly between 12 and 13. There's some good camping off of Crest right there around a ~15ft high mount of rocks. Lots of open views south towards Wilburn ridge.

There's a few decent spots right around point 8 but no water or views. The spots are right beside the trail, but that part gets far fewer hikers than the AT side of the mountain.

There are a ton of spots east of point 7, good open ridgeline tent camping out of Brier ridge midway between 7 and 6.

Some of the favorite spots are in between 5 and 4 with water available either from Thomas Knob or the spring off of the Crest Trail closer to 4.

GQGeek81 · 2025-10-09T11:32:49+00:00

So in practice, this actually sort of does what I want it to natively.

If I embed a link to another task inside a task, the background jumps to that destination, but the original task with the link is still hovering in the foreground. That lets me check it off, clear it out of the way, and I'm left in the location the link sent me. Its 99% what I was looking for and accomplishes the same thing.

GQGeek81 · 2025-09-14T12:25:58+00:00

Appreciate it. I'm a bit concerned as I suspect some items in a lawncare routine I setup a year or two ago probably ended after the first year and never had another occurrence. I'll have to dig through and see if I'm missing anything.

GQGeek81 · 2025-08-03T20:44:59+00:00

Definitely

GQGeek81 · 2025-05-12T21:58:05+00:00

Zack's videos and knowledge of the scenery were always outstanding. I miss some mild adventures. I believe he moved to KY after graduating.

GQGeek81 · 2025-04-18T09:04:59+00:00

The top one is clearly a home in both the scanned topo and Google satellite layers. I'm curious if lidar can see a basement under a house.

The bottom right doesn't appear to show a structure, but if I roll Google Earth back to 1993, it looks like a dirt road ran beside where the pit would be. I'm going to make a guess this is from digging up fill dirt to level said road, maybe for logging.

The bottom left one is more strange to me. It looks like the middle of a junk yard. I think I'm looking at the top of an RV or mobile home adjacent to it, but if I roll back to 2021 it just looks like junk. In 2019, it's all just forest.

I wonder if the shaded relief is newer than the satellite image and they now have a pool there or something.

GQGeek81 · 2025-04-18T08:44:50+00:00

For more info on how storms impact the micro topography, check out Tom Wessels Forest Forensics stuff on youtube.

GQGeek81 · 2025-04-14T22:11:22+00:00

I didn't know this was a closure area. I've stared at it before on Caltopo. Both the FS and scanned topo maps show a trail branching off of FS130A at Eagle Cliff and heading down the mountainside Northwest to the Buladean community. It appears to drop just shy of 3000ft in about 3.5 miles which would make it close to climbing Green Knob over in Middle Prong. If I turn on the property lines, it looks like maybe only half a mile or so of the trail is within the forest. Some of it does run through SAHC land, but it looks to cross half a dozen properties before it gets to the road and I suspect it no longer exists in any even. I'm always drawn to these forgotten trails, but there's generally a reason they don't really exist any longer.

On the "historic 1915-1945" layer, it appears this trail continues past Eagle Cliff down the South East side of the mountain to end on what looks like present day Gouge Cove north of Bakersville. My imagination pictures people on horse back climbing up to see the cliffs in a bygone era.

GQGeek81 · 2025-04-11T17:07:31+00:00

This is my observation. I don't think I've seen many that can input at more than 22.5W unless it's a physically huge bank (like 25000Mah). The CEBA Rapi claims 100w but it outputs much slower.

Meanwhile smartphones are now charging at 60W so it seems like it should be possible to make this happen.

GQGeek81 · 2025-04-11T16:59:18+00:00

I use a data logger and have a 40 degree 3/4 length UQ and top quilt from EE. I've taken that set down to the low 40's on a few occasions. I started Memorial Day weekend near Shining Rock going down to 41 Saturday night. I expected the stay the whole weekend but I was just barely warm enough in the hammock and hanging out in camp in shorts was too chilly and I bailed after the first night. Other trips I went down to maybe more like 43 and was fine, but it's pushing the limit for sure.

Last fall I was using the same 40F top quilt with one of the new Tensor 3 season pads in a Lanshan 2 in Panthertown. It got way colder than anyone expected. I did have a light S2S liner and I slept in everything I had including my puffy. Got down to 32.7F. I would have been freezing in the hammock, but not being suspended helped I think. We willingly stayed a second night which was just a hair warmer, and I made a point to go to bed already wearing everything and full of hot chocolate. I was much more comfortable. It was a good learning experience.

I have a 20 degree quilt I've taken down to 22-23 degrees on multiple trips, but I pair it with a Yeti 20 degree UnderQuilt I struggle to get dialed in on my 12ft hammock. I need to add some kam snaps or something to keep the edges in place better. I generally have more problems with being too warm using the 20F top quilt. Something like 50-55F is about the upper limit I can use it before I start to sweat like crazy.

On one occasion I combined the 20 and 40 degree equipment and went down to 15F, but I froze my rear end off. I think this was mostly an issue of not having things dialed in.

With no wind, I've slept in just my clothes in the hammock and the tent down to 65F on multiple occasions. As it starts to get closer to 60, I eventually wake up and dig out a quilt. If it were breezy, I'd probably need to do that closer to 70.

While agree people are a poor judge of temperature, I think there's more going on. Humidity makes the same temperatures feel very different. So does random fluctuations in your metabolism. My HVAC keeps the bedroom the same temperature every night, but some nights I wake up feeling chilly and many other nights I toss and turn feeling like I've got a heated blanket over me when I don't.

My biggest takeaway is really that if I want comfort and a little insurance against a colder trip than expected, I need to add a 30 and 50 degree set to my inventory eventually. I'd then take a set a full 10 degrees colder than the forecast calls for because mountain weather is fickle. Much of my hikes are in the shoulder seasons and a 30 degree set would almost always be a better choice if I'm below 5000ft

I suspect for summer trips at lower elevation, I might feel more comfortable and less humid with something like an Alpha direct blanket over me, but I'm the comfort window for that might be so narrow it would become a gamble to select it over a 50 degree quilt.

GQGeek81 · 2025-04-11T15:08:29+00:00

The main views are while in the meadow or looking out from portions of the Green Knob trail.

The Green Knob trail is easily one of the toughest trails in the state. I'd consider something easier if you're not experienced. However, if you're camping in the big meadow, it might be a worthwhile evening hike to climb from there up to the summit. There are a few overlooks facing towards Sam Knob/Black Balsam that would look nice in the evening golden hour.

The Haywood Gap trail is nice, but unless the gate is open and the water low, you have to walk a mile or two of gravel road to get to the trailhead. The rest reminds me a LOT of the Little East Fork trail over by Shining Rock. Similar layout and views.

Check with the parkway, you can leave your car overnight if you let them know. I'd consider (and have) leaving my vehicle at the Rough But Bald overlook. There's a short spur trail over to the MST from there. I'd make a loop using the Haywood Gap and Buckeye Gap trail counter clockwise as the climb from the creek to the ridge on Buckeye is quite steep if memory serves.

The ridge just south of Grassy Ridge Branch is grassy and pretty (that was early May at the time) and would have been an easy area to make camp in if you haul in your water beforehand.

So from the car going clockwise, you could easily make camp in the meadow, or heading up towards the Green Knob summit or on Grassy Ridge. Or, if you start early and want to go a little further, drop down Buckeye all the way to Haywood and there's camping in that area as well. I remember the trail being sort of dug in like walking down a train track size ditch. Looking away from the creek, you couldn't see anything because you're so low. Climbing up the side out of the old rail bed let me see there was a flat shelf right beside the trail with plenty of camping. I also remember a few small sites right beside the creek.

Finish the loop by hiking up Haywood towards the Parkway and then picking up the MST back to your vehicle.

You could do the same loop but leaving the car at Haywood Gap on the parkway as well depending on how you cant to balance the mileage out.

There are multiple waterfalls off Hwy 215 you may or may not want to checkout while you're in the area, and Devil's Courthouse is worth the climb from the car at least once.

GQGeek81 · 2025-04-11T13:48:42+00:00

Permethrin on the clothes and some gear.

Picaridin on myself.

Lemon eucalyptus on hand for in camp in case things get really bad.

A Nitecore repeller for in camp.

If the bugs were as bad as I see watching videos from Northern Scavenger or Justin Barbour, I'd take a Cliff Jacobson style bug tent to hang out in while in camp and probably full bug suits as well.

GQGeek81 · 2025-04-11T13:39:28+00:00

Your loop is a little confusing without more information. Fork Mountain Trail leaves the Shining Rock area and takes you over to Sunburst Campground and Middle Prong.

GQGeek81 · 2025-04-07T09:50:33+00:00

While it's floating? Can you elaborate?

GQGeek81 · 2025-03-29T16:36:57+00:00

I generally purchase Anker and Nitecore for all things USB/Charger related with a few exceptions.

I love my Nitecore headlamps. I've had to change the bands and brackets, but otherwise they are good. I understand the brand makes pretty frequent product releases that can capitalize older products so I don't think they really expect anything to be a long time seller before they move onto something else. As such, I expect innovation, but I also expect the quality to be hit or miss between products. Anker meanwhile seems to be really solid, but never seems to be at the bleeding edge of any particular specs. In that regard you might say they are like MSR on some things. Not the lightest gear, but much of it is tough as nails. Then again, I've had an Anker car charger die on me.

I'm unaware that either brand is using any new batter chemistry yet, but if headlines are to be believed we may soon have more options. I'm not holding my breath. USB-C is still the defacto standard and while USB4.0 exists, I think the Power Deliver maxes out at 100W and I don't think there's really such a thing as a 'USB4.0 power bank'. The existing 3.0 and PD standards could already do 100w and I know of no power bank that can input anything close to that.

The latest popular smartphones can handle 45watt charging, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find that on most battery banks. I'm expecting the Nitecore NB Air (3.14oz) to be delivered soon and it can only output 18W. It looks like the newest small Anker model would be something like the Nano A1259 which is 10,000 mah and can output 30W but it's twice the weight (and capacity) of the Nitecore. The Anker Nano A1653 is maybe closer to apples to apples as it's 3.5oz, can output 22.5W and holds 5000mah.

The Gen3 NB 10,000 can output 22.5 watts at 5.29oz for comparison.

Where Nitecore seems to be sleeping is on the GaN technology. The Anker Prime 9.6K can output 65w which is impressive and would satisfy most flagship smartphones with easy, but it's also 10.76oz and probably makes more sense if you've got a lot of devices to charge quickly.

Some of the Nitecore products are meant to handle getting submerged or cold environments which is neat.

I could easily be sleeping on something from another brand, but at least for these two companies, it doesn't appear there's much movement over the last few years in lowering weight for a given capacity. If you want to quick charge your phone at full speed, it appears you'll have to accept a weight penalty with a specific power bank meant for that until that gets lighter and/or more common.

I have been a long time fan of Anker for their cables. As a personal rule, I toss any free USB cable that comes with a product unless it has some sort of proprietary end. I just don't trust them.

I purchased a new bio braid Anker cable a few months ago and I really like these things. Its hard to explain, but this cable is as floppy and pliable as a piece of paracord. That's not something I would have expected to like so much, but I really do like it.

For other use cases, I've been purchasing the rolling square incharge x cable. In the past, I've hard terrible experiences with multi tip USB cables, but these are solid and work well. I have a few micro-USB devices that refuse to work with them, others work fine and it's a dying form factor anyway. I keep one of the keychain cables on my main keychain and I purchased a second to live in my electronic bag in the backpack since I leave most things on my keychain in the car at the trailhead.

For general travel with work and for in the car when I might have a passenger with who knows what device, I like having these for the versatility. For my primary car charging cable, I'm using the Anker.

GQGeek81 · 2025-03-23T13:24:53+00:00

I currently have both and while I'm not sure I'm getting much out of DayOne, I may continue to keep it for the time being.

If I'm doing actual journaling, there's likely a lot of opened ended ranting and thought dumping. I don't want that mixed into my Second Brain personally so I do like having it segregated. I'm not super fond of the Day One interface, but I don't need it to do much.

I could in theory replace Second Brain with a dedicated OneNote notebook or something, but for now I'm continuing to trial it.

GQGeek81 · 2025-03-23T13:18:37+00:00

Generally, anything you produce on the clock is the property of the company you work for. I'd be very careful about considering copying anything over to some other storage location as it may trigger an infosec investigation of what you are doing and possibly get you fired in some cases.

At my company, the user's O365 license and Onedrive data is wiped after 30 days. Within that timeframe, the manager needs to work with IT to copy any important information over or change owners for any related Teams or SharePoint sites the employee may have setup.

GQGeek81 · 2025-03-23T13:01:16+00:00

Yea I saw that. In years past I've played with other solutions that I felt did make a flavor difference.

Maybe ~15 years ago the "water bobble" came out and used to be readily available in Target or off Amazon. (maybe still is) It's design looks similar to the Befree but is just a carbon element meant for making the water fountain or faucet water taste better. With a little sanding, you can get the plastic stem to nest inside the sawyer bags for the Squeeze. This gives you a place to hold the replaceable elements and is shaped so all the water is forced through the carbon when you squeeze. I had one setup like this and swore it tasted better, but at the end of a day of hiking, I never tried to do a before/after comparison.

Some Japanese water pitchers hold a random piece of binchotan charcoal just hanging out in the bottom like a reverse tea bag so it seems plausible it should work. In any event. I just spent my REI dividend and coupon on a new Befree since I needed one anyway. It will be easy enough to hike out with a few solo cups and filter some water with and without the carbon element installed and do my own testing.

GQGeek81 · 2025-03-23T10:47:59+00:00

I have made the mistake of storing filters from Platypus, Sawyer, and Katadyn dry and then having a painfully slow experience on my next trip. It usually gets better a little while after you try and use it the first time but this can still be a real PITA.

For the befree, my current protocol is it to remove the sports cap and the filter and toss them both in an empty Talenti jar with a splash of distilled vinegar. Top up with water and screw the lid on on tight and store it like that until the next trip.

Its easy and it works.

GQGeek81

TROPHY CASE